By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News
Lockheed Martin has taken seven years to develop its Mako hypersonic missile – and this week, the world’s largest defense contractor indicated it was worth the wait.
Lockheed released more details about the weapon, including the news that the missile can fit in the internal bays of the F-35 and F-22 fighters. That’s rather unusual, because hypersonic weapons generally need a large rocket motor and fuel storage capacity to allow them to fly so fast and so high. That generally restricts them to be carried only on the wings.
But the Mako is just 13 inches in diameter and 13 feet long, allowing it to be carried internally by America’s fifth-generation fighters. The missile also has been checked out to be carried externally by other planes, including the F/A-18, F-15, F-16 and the P-8. Lockheed says that any aircraft with 30-inch lugs can carry the weapon.
Mako was originally developed under the Air Force’s Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW) program, whose goal was to build a tactical air-to-surface missile. Two years ago, Lockheed, Northrop Grumman and L3Harris Technologies were awarded contracts for the first phase of development.
Northrop eventually won the contract to develop and test the SiAW. Its version built on the work it had done in developing the Navy’s AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile – Extended Range (AARGM-ER).
Lockheed chose not to proceed past the first phase of development. But the company says that Mako benefits from work on SiAW. Now, it’s hoping that the Navy will consider the missile.
“For the US Navy, this is a multi-mission, highly capable system, highly survivable, affordable, so you’re going to hold many targets at risk with one weapons system that’s ready now,” said Rick Loy, senior program manager at Lockheed’s Missile and Fire Control Division, in an interview with Naval News.
Hypersonic weapons can hit speeds over Mach 5 (3,836 miles per hour). Unlike ballistic missiles, they don’t follow a parabola-shaped trajectory. Instead, they can maneuver on their way to a target and fly at low altitudes – all of which makes the weapons difficult to defend against.
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Right now, Russia and China appear to be in the lead in the race to develop hypersonic missiles. Moscow reportedly fielded its first one in 2019. That’s the same year that China is likely to have out its first hypersonic weapons in service – a medium-range ballistic missile designed to carry a hypersonic glide vehicle.
Meanwhile, Lockheed says the way the Mako is being built will save both time and money. The company is using additive manufacturing, a process also known as 3D printing, in which a product is built from a three-dimensional digital model, by laying down and bonding successive thin layers of material. The process is being used to build Mako’s guidance system and fins – at one-tenth the cost and ten times faster, according to Lockheed.
And the missile’s name? The mako is the fastest known shark species, able to hit top speeds of 46 miles per hour for short bursts.
